Post-2015 development agenda should reflect changing poverty landscape, say MEPs

Eradicating poverty and achieving sustainable development should be the priorities of the post-2015 development agenda, said Development Committee MEPs on Tuesday. Universal health coverage and quality education should be key goals, and gender equality and decent work opportunities should become new ones, they said in a draft resolution, voted Tuesday, on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The committee stressed the need to take account of the changing landscape of poverty and the increasing importance of inequality. "I'm convinced that future goals must be better adapted to the changing reality, in order to enhance their effectiveness," said rapporteur Filip Kaczmarek (EPP, PL).

The text stresses that universal health coverage and high quality education for all and at all levels should be major goals of the post-2015 agenda. It also calls for gender equality to be built into all EU programmes and a focus on providing full and productive employment as key ways out of poverty.

MEPs recall that 75% of the world's poor people live in middle-income countries and therefore emphasise that these countries should not be overlooked when reviewing the MDGs despite their economic growth. They further urge that any efforts to differentiate countries by degrees of poverty should not exclude them from bilateral cooperation with the EU.

Although some developing countries have themselves become donors, they still face high levels of inequality comparable to that of other developing countries, they add.

EU member states must at least maintain their pledge to donate 0.7% of GDP to development after 2015 and must adopt multiannual budget timetables in order to reach this target, say MEPs, who also reiterate the crucial role of innovative sources of development funding, such as the Financial Transaction Tax, part of which should be allocated to sustainable development.

The draft resolution also insists that the cost of the effects of climate change should be paid from funds genuinely additional to existing commitments and urges the EU to keep up the fight against corruption, money laundering, tax havens, illicit flows of capital and harmful tax structures, so as to enable developing countries to raise more revenue at home.

To define poverty, new indicators are needed besides GDP, and to eradicate it, development policy must take account of the importance of inclusive economic development, redistribution of wealth through budgetary means, human rights and good governance, among other things, say MEPs.

The draft resolution was passed by 20 votes to 4 with no abstentions. It is scheduled for a plenary vote in May

(source: www.europarl.europa.eu)